Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Healthc Manage Forum. 2023 Sep;36(5):340-346. doi: 10.1177/08404704231182671. Epub 2023 Jul 6.
In Canada, primary care providers are the front door to other services in the health system, such as specialist care. Compared to other countries, Canadians experience long wait times for specialist referrals and appointments leading to poorer health outcomes for patients. Although there is attention paid to the impacts of these waits on patients, little is known about how long specialist care wait times impact primary care providers. As part of a larger study surveying primary care clinics in Nova Scotia, primary care providers were invited to participate in a follow-up survey on comprehensive care and specialist wait times. We thematically analyzed responses to an open text field about specialist wait times. Respondents shared experiences with challenging specialist wait times, strategies to manage patients waiting for specialist care, and recommendations for improving access to specialist care in Nova Scotia, Canada.
在加拿大,初级保健提供者是通向卫生系统中其他服务(如专科护理)的门户。与其他国家相比,加拿大人在等待专科转介和预约方面的时间较长,导致患者的健康状况较差。尽管人们关注这些等待对患者的影响,但对于专科护理等待时间对初级保健提供者的影响知之甚少。作为一项调查新斯科舍省初级保健诊所的更大研究的一部分,初级保健提供者被邀请参与一项关于全面护理和专科等待时间的后续调查。我们对一个关于专科等待时间的开放文本字段的回复进行了主题分析。受访者分享了他们在专科等待时间方面遇到的挑战、管理等待专科护理的患者的策略以及改善加拿大新斯科舍省专科护理获取途径的建议。